OneWinged Angel
by Axel Cutlass
Summary: Sequel to Memories Reborn.  No, Angel doesn't lose one of her wings.  I'm talking about THE OneWinged Angel.  Max and the flock must face the ultimate evil.  FF7 crossover.
1. Prologue: Evil Rises

**Note:** Before I start the story, there are just a couple of things I want to say.

First of all, technically this is a crossover from Final Fantasy VII, but I'm only bringing in one character, the title character. I don't know a lot about him because I've never played FF7. I only know what I know from watching Advent Children, what my Final Fantasy Fanatic Friend (wow, that's a mouthful) told me, and what I learned from Wikipedia (gotta love that site). So some inaccuracies I have may be unintentional, or are intentional for the story's sake.

I also do not own Maximum Ride or Final Fantasy VII, and that's the only disclaimer I will put up here. I'm covering myself for this whole story.

I will also have more Faxness this time around, I promise. But just a little warning, or something for you to look for, the love scenes might get a little M-rated.

Okay, that's all. On with the story.

* * *

The flames raged on in what used to be the Facility. What was once the heart of Itex and Re-evolution was now nothing but ashes burning away. 

But through the flames, he walked. The flames brushed at his skin, but he was not burned. Not even his black trench coat or black combat boots were affected by them. His long, silver hair flowed with the dancing flames.

His penetrating, emerald green eyes looked around at what was once his prison. Now it was destroyed. He was now free. Free to start the destruction he was created to make.

He continued walking through the flurry of fire. Then he came across a body laying down. A body that was also untouched by the surrounding flames. His clothes had been burned away but his skin had no burns. He had short red hair and strange tattoo around his right eye. It looked like a strange version of the cent sign.

"Are you the cause of this?" the silver-haired man asked, not really to anyone, "You are unaffected by this fire, but you seem to be in great pain."

The body on the ground then let out a tiny moan.

"So, you are still alive?" Every word was pronounced with grace. "But you seem to be suffering. You released me from this prison, so now I shall return the favor."

He took his left hand and reached to the right side of his waist. On a belt he was wearing was a nine foot long katana. He grabbed and removed it and held it up above the body.

"I shall release you of your suffering."

He raised the sword and got ready to swing it down, but he stopped. The body on the ground let out another moan, louder and longer than before.

"Oh, so you seem to have a desire to live," he said. He stood over the body with his long sword still raised. Then he placed the sword back where it was in his belt.

"Fine, I shall let you live. But if you should cross my path, I will kill you without hesitation."

With that, a giant wing came from the man's right side. It was mainly black with some dark blue and purple feathers.

"Wait," said the young man on the ground in barely a whisper, "Who are you?"

The man looked back down to the young man on the ground. "Who are you?" he asked back to him.

"I'm… Asch."

The man turned away from Asch. "Asch… I shall remember your name. You may call me Sephiroth. Remember what I told you. If you seek me out, I will destroy you."

Then Sephiroth took off into the night sky, leaving Asch alone in the great blaze.

"Sephiroth…" whispered Asch, then he slipped back into darkness.

Well, intrigued or bored? R&R please.


	2. As Normal As Freaks Can Be

I was ready to have a heart attack. I wonder if that's possible for a seventeen-year-old avian-human hybrid mutant freak to have a heart attack.

Today was the first day of school. Not the School that I had grown to know and love. A normal, regular high school with children and teachers and grades. I had never felt so stressed before.

Okay, maybe trying to save the world from an evil megalomaniac who turned herself into a wolflike monster was more stressful, but not by much.

I was filling a backpack with notebooks and folders. I, Maximum Ride, was going to attempt to have a normal life.

Me and my flock, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel were living with our friends Dr. Martinez and her daughter Ella. Dr. Martinez had decided to enroll us in school. She figured we shouldn't just hang around the house all day. That we should do something to occupy our time, now that the world was safe.

Since Fang, Iggy, and I were seventeen, we would be seniors at a high school. Nudge would be a freshman along with Ella, since they were both thirteen. Gazzy would be going to seventh grade in a junior high school. And Angel would be in elementary school in the fifth grade.

I came downstairs to find that everyone else was waiting with backpacks as well.

"Well, are you ready to go?" asked Fang.

"Of course not," I said.

"Neither are we."

The last time we went to a school, it turned out that it was just a trap for us. Dr. Martinez assured me that this school was real. After all, she was sending her own daughter to it so it must have been safe. But still, I was incredibly nervous to make more real human interaction.

"All right," said Dr. Martinez, coming into the room, "are you guys ready?"

"No," we all said in unison.

"Oh, come on. You guys are going to be just fine. I know you can get through this. The other two schools are on the way to the high school, so you can just drop off Angel and Gazzy on the way as you walk. I'll be at work and you have my number in case of an emergency."

"What about…" I started to say but she was two steps ahead of me.

"I have a beeper that's connected to her monitor. If there's a significant change, I'll know about it."

She was referring to Lily, an eight-year-old girl who stayed in a room at Dr. Martinez's. The only thing was that she stayed in the room all the time. She was in a coma.

She was the only surviving member of Counter-Breed, a group of avian-humans with special abilities like us that were made to stop Itex. They teamed up with us against Itex but then almost all of them died in an ambush attack led by Jeb Batchelder. The only two who were left alive were Lily and Asch, and Lily had been kidnapped.

We eventually came to find the Itex headquarters, a place called the Facility. We got there and came face-to-face with Jeb, but then he ran away like the coward he is. Then we faced one of the real head honchos, Anne Walker, who turned herself into an Eraser thanks to a performance enhancing drug called Boost. She tried to make an escape in a helicopter and shot at us with a chain gun. Lily had the misfortune of catching a bullet in the head, and now she was in a coma because of it.

At least afterwards, me and Fang were able to defeat Anne.

Oh yeah, that's another thing. Fang and I are… kind of an item now.

Of course it was going to be extremely awkward to hide that considering at school we were supposed to be brother and sister. Yeah, we were going with the story that we were all adopted brothers and sisters and that our parents were missionaries again. We just added that we were staying with Dr. Martinez because she was a friend of theirs.

"All right," said Dr. Martinez, "I'm gonna get going and you should too. I'll see you later." Then she headed out the door.

"Okay," I said after the door closed, "let's stay here and say we went."

"C'mon Max," Fang said, "You know we can't do that."

"Yeah," said Nudge, "besides, I'm excited about this. I mean, I know the last school we went to turned out to be really bad, but this one is gonna be great. It's gonna be real this time."

"Yeah," said Ella, "and if you need help, you talk to me about anything you might need to know."

"All right," I said. I wasn't going to win this argument so I figured I'd better give it up before the six of them dragged me out of the house by my feet.

So we all left for school. We dropped Angel off at her elementary school after I promptly reminded her not to use her mind powers to make recess last all through the day or anything like that. Then we dropped Gazzy off at his school after I let him know that if he had to let out a big one that he should go to the bathroom.

Then the rest of us headed to the high school. It was three stories tall and was a tan color. It was called Treemont High, which was the name of the town it was in.

When we got there, there was a lot of movement and commotion going on. There were groups of kids talking to each other. A couple of others were practicing moves on their skateboards. There were even a couple of them smoking. And all that was just on the outside.

Inside was even worse. There were even more bunches of kids talking and scrambling to read the sheets that were on the walls. The sheets had the classes for everyone posted. Fang held on to Iggy so we wouldn't lose him in the crowd.

When we were finally able to get to them, we started to scan through them looking for the Rides. The first one we found was James which was Iggy. We decided to use his real first name. Then there was me, Max, and then there was Fang who was back to being Fnick, I mean Nick, and then there was Nudge, who was back to being Tiffany-Krystal. Ella's name was on a completely different sheet.

We all had almost no classes together. A couple of us shared a couple of classes together. I would have 3rd period Geometry with Iggy and 5th period English with Fang and that was it. I was on my own for the other five periods, seven total.

"I can't believe this," I said, "I'm on my own for almost the entire day."

"So are we," said Fang, "I guess they try to keep family separate."

"That's messed up," said Iggy.

"At least we all have the same homerooms," I said.

"It's probably so you can interact with other people besides the ones you're guaranteed to see everyday," said Ella.

"Well, if there is an emergency, there's no way we'll be together when it happens," I said.

"We'll just have to find each other," said Nudge.

"Hey, Iggy," said Fang, "There's some name directly under yours. It says 'Attendant: Carl Davies'."

"Attendant?" Iggy asked, "You mean you guys won't be helping me around. I have to trust a total stranger."

"I'm sure they wouldn't get a total punk to lead you around," I said, "they must have chosen someone they know could be trusted to do the job."

Fang was looking at the rest of the sheets. Then he said, "Oh, found him. Yeah, he has all of your classes, and he's in our homeroom."

"I can't believe I have to do this," said Iggy, "if this guy's a jerk, I'm blowing him up."

"Iggy," I said.

"Okay, I won't blow him up."

"Yay!" Nudge shouted suddenly, "Me and Ella have four classes together. All right!"

Well, I was happy for that. At least Nudge would have somebody she knew nearby for the better part of her day.

Suddenly a bell rang throughout the building. It was the homeroom bell. Suddenly, there was a stampede of kids running through the front of the building. A lot of them were running toward the sheets. Why didn't they do this beforehand?

We all got out of the way, pulling Iggy with us so we didn't get run over. Then we headed to our homeroom. We all found some seats and sat down. After a few minutes, another bell rang which meant homeroom has started. The principal came on over the intercom and welcomed everyone to the new school year. We did the pledge of allegiance and then he bombarded us with announcements. After the announcements, the homeroom teacher handed us our locker information.

When it was done, another bell rang and it was time to go to first period. Time for me to separate from the others.

My first class was American History. It wasn't so bad, I guess. The teacher, Mr. Norton, was fairly interesting. He even made jokes that were actually funny. For a minute, you could think that he wasn't even a teacher.

After that class was over, I had to go to Physics. After I found a seat, I suddenly felt a finger go through my hair lightly. I looked over to see a boy walking down the aisle and take a seat two seats behind me. He had this dumb smirk on his face. I showed him my disgust but I think that just turned him on even more.

The teacher, Mr. Locke, was the opposite of Mr. Norton. He seemed as bored with the class as everyone else was. It was so bad that I found that my mind kept wandering to other things, like how the flock was holding up, or if Lily was all right by herself. Well, then again, Total was there, but he wasn't exactly a guard dog.

The class finally ended with the bell ringing. That boy came by me before I could get up. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," I said, showing that I wasn't exactly pleased with him.

"Can I walk you to your next class?"

"No thanks."

"Why not?"

"Why do ya think?"

"Oh, come on. I was just teasing. You're not really gonna…"

"Yeah I am," I said, interrupting him, "And if you do it again, I will hurt you."

I picked up my stuff and got out of the classroom quickly. The last thing I wanted was to get into a confrontation with somebody. I made my way to my third class. I was relieved that Iggy was going to be in it.

I came into the room and saw that Iggy was already in the room. Someone was sitting next to him, which I figured was Carl Davies, Iggy's attendant. I found a seat on the other side of him.

"Hey, Ig, uhh, James," I said.

"Oh, Max," said Iggy, "how have you been surviving?"

"Okay, I guess. I've already had somebody hit on me."

"Oh, boy. Well, uhh, this is Carl. Carl, this is my… sister Max."

"Hi there," I said.

"Hello," said Carl.

"Have you been taking good care of Iggy?"

"I hope I have."

"He's been doing just fine," said Iggy. The bell rang and then the teacher, Mrs. Windsor, came in.

While she was speaking, I whispered to Iggy, "How is Carl?"

Iggy whispered back, "He's all right. I think he's more uncomfortable than I am. He talks on and on and on. I don't know if it's him trying to help me stay with him or if it's that he just talks when he's nervous."

The rest of the class went on pretty okay. I never really liked math but it wasn't anything that I couldn't keep up with.

When the class was over, I said bye to Iggy-James and Carl and headed off to my fourth period class, Spanish. I decided to try and learn some real Spanish so I could say things other than 'hola' and 'mucho'. Plus, I kinda wanted to surprise Dr. Martinez.

It wasn't that bad, not for me anyway. Mr. Gonzalez, my teacher, was pretty nice.

After that, it was lunch period. The food was hardly anything that would satisfy my appetite. After I got my food, I found my flock, or at least Iggy and Fang sitting at a table and went over to sit with them. It must have been only lunch for seniors because Nudge and Ella weren't around. I noticed that Carl was sitting at the table next to us. We all started talking about how our day was going.

Fang said that his day was going all right and that he had caught looks from some girls, but he may have been trying to yank my chain. Iggy said that his day was going well too, it was just that Carl could be a little overly nice. It turned out that Carl works with the handicapped, young and old, and that was why he was chosen to help out Iggy.

We also all agreed that the food wasn't very good.

After lunch, it was time for fifth period. I had Geometry and I was with Fang in that class. The class wasn't so bad, despite how much I hated math. Mrs. Hughes, the teacher, seemed to try to keep it interesting, but I couldn't say she was succeeding. The only thing that I was happy about was that I had Fang in the class.

The class ended and I was sad that I had to leave Fang. My next class I had was Psychology. I figured I should take it so I could learn to get into my opponents' heads. Only I was disappointed to find that the punk from Physics class was in it. When I walked into the class, he looked and gave me that irritating smile. Then he whispered to a boy he was sitting next to. I could only imagine what he was saying.

I sat down as far away as possible from him. All throughout the class, I could feel him looking at me. He wasn't just annoying me, now he was giving me the creeps. All of a sudden, I wasn't so interested in psychology.

I was relieved when the class ended. I quickly headed out. But then I realized that my last class was Gym. I would have to change in a locker room and possibly expose my wings. I came to the women's locker room. I was absolutely elated to find that there some changing stalls. There was the open locker area and then there were some stalls.

I quickly went into one and started to change into the uniforms that were placed at each locker, a grey shirt that said 'Treemont High' with red shorts. I got out and went into the gym area. A whole bunch of people in the same uniform were standing around.

The gym teacher came out and said her name was Ms. Paine. I didn't know if that was a bad omen or not.

She laid out the law of what would be happening in the class. She was pretty strict but I think I could handle it. I've dealt with really strict people before. Our first sport was basketball. Since it was the first day, we had our choice of playing a game on one side of the court or just shooting around on the other. I chose to shoot around.

For the entire period, I tried to look coordinated at sports. After a few minutes, I was going after a ball when I came up to a girl with long, black hair. She had blue eyes and pale skin.

"Hi there," she said.

"Hi," I said back.

"Hey, you were in Physics with Mr. Locke and in Psychology last period weren't you?"

"Yeah, I was."

"I couldn't help but notice that you were getting looks from a certain someone."

"You saw that, huh?"

"That's Billy Barret. He thinks he's a big hit with the girls. The truth is… he's an asshole. Just ignore him and he'll go away eventually."

"Thanks for the advice."

"I'm Gina by the way, Gina Lockhart."

"Nice to meet you Gina. I'm Max, Max Ride."

"Max? Is that short for Maxine or something?"

"No, just Max."

"Oh, you must be new. I don't remember seeing you last year."

"I moved here during the summer with my family."

"Oh, well, we should hang out more. Maybe I'll see you again sometime."

"Uhh, sure, that'd be great."

The bell rang and it was the end of the day. I went back to the locker room stall and changed. I quickly got out and went to the front of the building and met Fang and the others.

I couldn't believe it. I survived my first day of school with no problems. I wondered if I could handle it another 186 times.

* * *

Please read and review. Thank you. 


	3. An Interesting Find

Serena Salisbury tried to keep up pace with her friends Monty Scott and Laurie Murdock. But they had more experience at hiking than she had.

The three of them were hiking through the woods of Timber, Colorado. Tomorrow was their first day of school so a hike was Monty and Laurie's idea of a last adventure before they went to school. Monty and Laurie were a couple that loved the outdoors and they invited Serena along.

Serena liked the outdoors, but not to a point that Monty and Laurie liked it, but she was still glad to come along. She had her long, black hair tied in a ponytail. She was wearing a forest green short-sleeve shirt and blue jeans. She also had a small, black back pack on.

They continued walking through the woods on no particular trail. "How are you holding up Serena?" asked Monty.

"I'm doing all right, I guess," said Serena, stepping over a fallen branch.

"If you want to head back, we can," said Laurie.

"No, no, I'm enjoying myself," Serena said half-truthfully, "Besides, I don't want to ruin your fun."

They continued walking through the woods for another fifteen minutes when a strange smell overcame the three of them.

"What is that smell?" asked Serena.

"I don't know," said Monty, "smells like something is burning."

"You don't think there's a fire around here, do you?"

"No," said Laurie, "if there was a fire, we would have seen smoke a long time ago. Maybe there was a fire recently.

The three of them continued hiking, the smell growing stronger. After a couple of minutes, they saw where the smell was coming from. Up ahead, were the remains of what looked like a large building that had burned down.

"Oh my God," said Laurie, as they came near the remains.

"What the hell?" said Monty. "What is this?"

"It looks like there was… some sort of building here," said Serena.

"Yeah, but the map didn't show any building that's supposed to be out here." He bent down and felt some of the charred remains. "These pieces aren't hot. There's no smoke coming from it. This could have happened days or weeks ago."

Monty took off his back pack and opened it up. He reached in and pulled out a cell phone. He handed it to Laurie. "Call 911," he told her. Then he started to walk out in the remains.

"What are you doing?" asked Serena.

"We don't know how long ago this happened. There might be survivors that need our help. I'm not gonna just do nothing."

Serena came out with him and they started looking around in the char-covered ruins. There wasn't much left. All that was left was blackened chunks of metal and rubble. There was nothing recognizable. How anyone was supposed to survive this was beyond her.

They split up looking around. "Monty!" shouted Laurie, "Your stupid phone doesn't get service out here."

"Keep trying," said Monty.

Serena continued to look around through the ashes. There was just nothing left. Any hope of anyone surviving this was completely gone.

Then she looked behind a pile of rubble and saw something that almost knocked her off her feet. She found a body.

"Guys!" she cried, "Get over here!"

As they started to come over, Serena came closer to the body. It was a young man. He had no clothes on him. His hair was red and he had a tattoo resembling the cent sign over his right eye. He had a strong build but he seemed somewhat thin. He just lay there on his back, unconscious.

Monty and Laurie came over and gasped when they saw the body. "Oh my God," said Laurie, "is he…?"

"I don't know," said Serena.

"Oh man. How did he get way out here?" asked Monty, "And why isn't he burned up like everything else?"

"What do you mean?" asked Laurie.

"I mean, if he was in this fire, why isn't he one of the black chars all around this place?"

"Like, he got here after the fire?"

"It's possible."

"That doesn't make sense."

While Laurie and Monty were arguing over why the body was doing there, Serena continued to look at the body. She checked to see if he was still alive. She felt his neck for a pulse. To her surprise, there was a slow beating in his neck. Her eyes widened in shock. This person was still alive. She put her ear to his chest. She could hear the rhythm of a heartbeat.

"Guys," said Serena, "he's still alive."

"What?!" cried Monty and Laurie in unison.

"He's still alive. He has a pulse and a heartbeat. You got to call 911 now."

"I tried to but I can't get a signal out here," said Laurie.

"Keep trying."

Laurie held the phone in the air trying to get a signal. Monty bent down to look at the person. He felt his pulse and found that Serena was right.

"Oh, man," he said.

"Okay," said Laurie, "I've got a signal."

"Then dial and call for help."

Laurie did so and got through to 911. She started to talk to the emergency operator about the situation. When she was finished, she hung up.

"Well…" said Monty.

"They're sending a helicopter. We need to stay with him. They said not to move him."

"Okay."

Serena reached a hand out to the boy's forehead to see if he was warm or cold. As soon as she placed her hand on him, he jolted up in a sitting position, eyes wide open, and screamed very loudly as if he was in extreme pain.

The three hikers jumped back in terror. The screaming lasted for a nearly a minute, then the boy fell back down on the ground in his laying position, falling back into unconsciousness.

They all looked at each other in total shock. After the shock wore off, they all bent down to check on the person.

"Hey, are you all right?" asked Monty.

Then Serena saw them. "Monty," she said. He looked up to her. "Look," she said as she showed them. Protruding from the boy's back was a pair of brown wings. They were thin and pointed.

"Oh my God," said Laurie, "What is he?"

"I don't know," said Monty after recovering his fallen jaw, "Some sort of bird-human mix. He looks like he's from a sci-fi movie."

"What do we do?"

"We stay here and help him," said Serena, "what else?" She looked back down to the boy on the ground. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked him, "Can you hear me?"

No response came from him. Monty and Laurie, although they wanted to help, were still a bit freaked out.

Ten minutes later, the helicopter arrived and Monty and Laurie waved it down. It landed nearby and two people came out with a stretcher. They set it up and then propped the boy up on it.

"What the…?" said one of them noticing the wings. They looked over to the three hikers.

"We know," said Monty, "it's strange."

"Well, we only have room in the copter for one other person. We'll need one of you to come with us."

They all looked at each other. "Serena, why don't you go?" said Laurie. "We'll meet you at the hospital later."

After a few seconds, Serena squeaked out an "okay".

She went with the medical personnel and climbed into the copter. It lifted up into the air as the medics started attending to the boy, hooking him up to monitors and checking him for injuries.

"Have you moved him?" asked one of the medics.

"No," said Serena.

"Has he moved or said anything since you found him?"

"He woke up at one point and started screaming like he was in some sort of pain, but then he just passed out again."

"God damn," said another medic, "this kid's heart rate is sky high. Give me the paddles."

The third medic gave the other medic the defibrillators and he started to warm them up.

Suddenly Serena heard a small whispering coming from somewhere. She looked down to the boy and found that his lips were moving. He was trying to say something.

"What?" she said, bending down to him to hear him better.

"What is my heart rate?" he barely whispered. His eyes didn't even open.

"What's his heart rate?" Serena asked one of the medics.

"It's through the damn roof," he said, warming up the paddles, "it's at 220 BPM."

"That's normal," the boy whispered.

"That's normal," Serena told the medic.

"Normal?" cried the medic, "that's over double a person's normal heart rate. He should be dead right now. I'm surprised it hasn't exploded yet."

"It's normal for me," the boy whispered.

"It's normal for him," Serena said.

The medic continued to hold the paddles and he looked back and forth between Serena and the boy. Then he put the paddles away and continued to work on other things with an overwhelmed look on his face.

"Thank you," said the boy, every word an effort, "thank you for saving me. "What's your name?"

"Serena," she said.

"I'm Asch," he said, and then passed out again. Serena sat by him, suddenly glad she was able to help him.

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The helicopter landed on the roof of the hospital. The medics wheeled Asch out on the stretcher with Serena running alongside.

They went into the elevator and brought him to a floor with an observation room. The medics could not identify what was wrong with Asch. They made sure the room was empty and had nobody else come in. They figured they didn't want to cause about the ruckus about a winged boy in the hospital.

They brought him into the room and Serena had to sit in the waiting room.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ronald Trapp, one of the head doctors in the hospital was informed of the situation. He found it hard to believe, but he told the other medics not to tell anyone else about the boy. The last thing he wanted was an uproar in the hospital about a science experiment in it. The medics also told Dr. Trapp about Serena and how she found Asch in the woods. He was shocked beyond all belief but remained calm in front of the medics.

Dr. Trapp then went into the observation room where Asch was laying, now in a hospital gown. He did some check-ups of his own on him. He couldn't believe it. After the raid from Itex on the ShawCorp lab, he never thought he would see a member of Counter-Breed again. He used to be one of the doctors that worked at ShawCorp in the Counter-Breed project. But after the raid, he had dropped out and went on to work in other hospitals, eventually ending up in Timber, Colorado. Now he was looking down at the very first success he helped create.

He took some notes on a clipboard. He figured he knew what was happening, but he didn't understand how or why. When Asch woke up, he would have to ask him later.

When he was done making his observations, Dr. Trapp went into the waiting room and asked for Serena. She came up to him. "I need to speak to you in private," he said.

Serena nodded her head and followed Dr. Trapp to his office. "So," he said, "I assume you know about that boy's… little secret."

"Yeah," said Serena, "I found it. What is he?"

"Well, I really can't tell you that. The less you know, the better. I just happen to know all about him. I can assure you, he's in good hands with me."

"Is he going to be all right?"

"He'll be fine. He's in some sort of state of rest. His body has used up too much energy to a point where it just quit. I don't understand how it happened and I'll have to find it out later."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Perhaps there is. He probably could use some moral support. Why don't you stick around until he wakes up? He'd probably like to thank you for saving his life. And maybe… he could tell you what he is."

"Huh?"

"Professionally and morally, I shouldn't tell you anything. But if he told you, I wouldn't see anything wrong with that." He cracked a smile.

"You would really let him tell me what he is?"

"You're entitled to know. You saved his life."

"All right. Th-thanks, I guess."

"But first, why don't you call your parents and let them know you're here. Just remember your promise. And I'll let you know when Asch is awake."

* * *

Please keep sending those reviews. Thank you. 


	4. Serena Meets Asch

Serena had been in the waiting room for hours. Monty and Laurie had not shown up yet. But Serena wasn't surprised by that. The wings on Asch had really freaked Monty and Laurie out. Of course, Serena was really freaked out as well, but she kept the sense of mind to try and help him.

Dr. Trapp finally came out and said, "He's awake. You still want to see him?"

"Yeah, sure," she said.

"We have him in a private room. Follow me."

Serena and Dr. Trapp walked through the halls until they reached the room.

Dr. Trapp opened the door. Serena looked inside to see Asch lying in a bed with a couple of wires and tubes coming from him. His eyes were open and he turned his head to look at the two people coming into the room.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hello Asch," said Dr. Trapp.

Asch looked at him quizzically, as if he was studying him. Then he said, "I know you from somewhere, don't I?"

Dr. Trapp clenched his teeth, as if he didn't want to say it himself.

Then Asch said, "Wait a minute, Dr. Gordon?"

Dr. Trapp let out a chuckle, "My name's Dr. Trapp now Asch. It's good to see you again."

"Where am I?"

"You're in a hospital in Timber, Colorado."

"What are you doing here Dr. Gor-uhh Trapp?"

"After the raid at the Counter-Breed lab, I dropped out and continued pursuing a career in medicine. I changed my name and bounced around a couple of hospitals before I ended up here."

"So, what happened? Why am I here?"

"You were found in the woods a few miles from here, naked and next to some burned remains of a large building. This brings me to ask you a few questions. I think what has happened to you is that your body used up way too much energy and you lapsed into a coma because of it. So my first question is what happened to you?"

Asch went into thought. He started thinking back to before everything went blank. He remembered being at the Facility with Max and the flock. He remembered meeting Roland ter Borcht and how he sacrificed himself to destroy the Subatomic Energy Core. And then it came to him.

He remembered how we was fighting a bunch of Erasers. He was holding them off for Max. Then he got that massive headache and how everything started to burn up around him.

"I remember. I was over-doing it. I had been fighting and using my speed for probably at least six hours straight. I was going too fast, using too much fire. I was just way too damn reckless."

"You always were Asch," said Dr. Trapp, "I remember when you were training. You always managed to get a little too into it. So that explains that. So what was that place?"

"You're not part of Counter-Breed anymore, doc. I don't think you have the right to know anything that's been happening in the past five years. You're a civilian now."

Dr. Trapp stood there for a moment with a surprised look on his face. Then he said, "I suppose you're right. I gave that right up years ago. But just tell me, are the others all right?"

"Lily's fine, I think. But… the others… they're gone."

"Oh, Asch, I'm so sorry."

Asch shook his head. Then he looked over to see Serena in the corner of the room. "We must be confusing the hell out of you."

Serena smiled and nodded her head. Dr. Trapp then cleared his throat. "Oh, pardon me. I'm slacking in my manners. Serena wanted to see you, if that's all right."

"It's all right with me."

"Really?" asked Serena.

"You saved my life. I owe you big time."

The intercom came to life and a woman's voice came over it, "Dr. Trapp to Observation Room 2. Dr. Trapp to Observation Room 2."

"Ooh, I got to get going," said Dr. Trapp, "I'll leave you two alone. I should be back soon." Dr. Trapp walked out of the room, leaving Serena and Asch alone.

"You know, you handled finding me pretty well," said Asch.

"Hmm?" said Serena.

"You didn't seem as phased as much as your friends, especially when you heard what my heartbeat was. You didn't really react at all."

Serena let out a shy laugh, "I was kind of shocked to a point where I just went with everything that was happening."

Asch smiled but there was silence for a moment.

"So… are you going to ask me?"

"Ask you wh… oh."

"Well… I'm not going to tell you if I don't think you want to know. It would probably be better for you if you didn't know, but I'll tell you if you want to."

"Okay, what are you?"

Asch let out a short chuckle, "An excellent question…" So he went on to explain to her what he was, an avian-human hybrid created to save the world from the evil Itex. But he was special. He had humming bird DNA in him, allowing him very quick movements and hyper speed. And he also had pyrokinesis. He also went into telling her about Max and the others and their exploits.

"Wow," said Serena, truly amazed, "so did you save the world, or Max for that matter?"

"Well, have there been any reports of giant explosions taking place in the past couple of weeks."

"No."

"Then I guess she did."

"That's good to know."

"Yeah, and I'll need to find her once I get out of here. I need to make sure she and the flock are all right, and if Lily is okay too."

"Who's Lily?"

"She's my daughter."

"What?! You have a daughter? At your age?"

"Well, she's not _really _my daughter. I just kind of see her as my daughter. I've raised her since she was three. She's eight now."

"Oh, man. That must have been hard."

"You get used to it. But that's more than enough about me. Tell me about you. Who are you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, I wanna know who you are."

"Well, I'm Serena, Serena Salisbury."

"Like the steak?"

Serena looked away with a smile on her face. When she looked back, she said, "You know, I get that a lot."

Asch chuckled a bit, "Sorry about that. Bad joke. I'm full of them."

"Well, I'm eighteen and tomorrow is my first day of being a senior in high school. As if that wasn't going to be overwhelming enough for me. Now that seems like cake compared to this."

"I can only imagine. So what else is there to Serena Salisbury?"

"I don't know what to tell you. I seem pretty boring compared to what you just told me."

"Oh, it can't be boring. If you were boring, you wouldn't have been out in the woods hiking. Now from that I can tell you like adventure, or at least the outdoors."

"Well, not really. My friends are the outdoors types. I just went along with them. I like it, but not as much as them."

"So then, what do you like?"

"I like to… I don't know, do what normal people do. Go shopping, talk to my friends, watch movies, that kind of stuff."

"Normal, huh? What's that like?"

Serena let out a sigh of frustration, "I can't stand how you take this so casually."

"This is my life, Serena. I take it as casually as anybody else with their own lives."

Serena started to pace around the room slowly. Asch watched her as she walked with careful steps.

"Is there something wrong? Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Somewhat," said Serena, "I mean you transition from saving the world and stopping bad guys to everyday things like it's nothing."

"Oh, I get it. You mean, when I bring up an issue as important as that, that has to do with me, we should stay on that subject and not talk about you at all."

Serena opened her mouth to say something, but then she slowly closed it. Asch eyed her and she looked away.

"Come on Serena, I just told you things that I should kill you for, but I told them to you because you saved my life and found my secret on accident and I knew you wanted to know the whole story. Now what you have to say about yourself can't possibly be as bad as what I told you."

"Look," said Serena sternly, turning to face Asch, "just as you have things about your life you don't want to tell anybody, so do I."

"Well, that's fine. We're perfect strangers; you don't have to tell me about your life right now."

"You know what? I think I should get going anyway. I have to get ready for school tomorrow."

"Okay. Will I see you again?"

"I don't know, maybe. And don't worry, I'm not gonna tell anyone about this."

"What about your two friends?"

"I'll think of something." Serena started to head out the door. "Goodbye."

"See ya later."

Serena walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. She wanted to scream. All of this stuff swirling through her head. Flying people, take-over-the-world schemes, wolf people, Asch. She thought she was going to have to be sent to the loony bin, it was driving her so crazy.

"Now what do I do?" she asked herself.

She suddenly had all these big secrets dumped into her lap and was told to keep them. She didn't ask for this. She just wanted to help somebody who was in trouble.

She saved his life and found out his big secret. Then he repaid the favor by explaining what he was. That should have been it. He had no right to ask about her. Maybe she wouldn't even see him again. It wasn't like she had to.

And yet, in some small corner of her mind, she wanted to see Asch again. One small part of her was really intrigued by him. Not just for the fact that he was an, what did he call it, avian-human hybrid, but because of his personality. He made her feel like she should have been the center of attention, not him. But that was a reason she didn't like him as well. She didn't want to be the center of attention.

She walked out of the hospital completely mind-warped. She didn't want to think of this right now. She just wanted to get home and dread her first day of school rather than dread seeing Asch again.

* * *

R&R R&R R&R R&R R&R please? 


	5. Save it For the Honeymoon

It was evening and we were all having dinner. All of us were telling each other about how our days went.

Iggy had managed to stay friends with that Carl Davies kid but he still didn't feel comfortable with how nervous he was.

Gazzy had managed to go the whole day without blowing anything up or anyone away. I was just glad that he and Iggy were now in separate schools. Put them together and they were bound to make something explode.

Angel was well behaved too. She didn't use her mind controlling ability on anyone, or at least she said she didn't, but I trusted her.

Nudge and Ella managed to stick together throughout the day. They only had a couple of classes where they weren't together. Nudge had met a bunch of Ella's friends and they liked her. So that was good to know that she was getting along well.

Fang said that he was bored throughout the whole day. Not even all the girls that he said were eyeing him interested him. I was ready to smack him for that but I wanted to hug him for it too.

I decided not to tell Fang about the Billy Barret situation. I didn't want him to go on jealous warpath, if that was possible with Fang.

Dr. Martinez was so glad that we were doing well at school. She rewarded our survival, and our not getting into trouble with her world famous cookies for dessert.

After dinner, we all split up around the house to do various things. I decided to go up to Lily's room to check on her.

I stood in the doorway and took a look inside the room. She was lying in a bed. She was still wearing the clothes that she had on when she was at the Facility, a baby blue, short-sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans. She looked so peaceful as she lied there. The only thing that looked unnatural about it was the feeding tube going into her stomach that delivered a slow, steady drip. There was also the sound of beeping coming from her monitor. Dr. Martinez showed us how to read it just in case something went wrong while she was away. I took a look at it and found that everything was normal.

Then I found myself thinking about Asch. I couldn't believe he was really gone. He wasn't around to take care of his little girl anymore. And then I would have to break that news to her. Oh, man. I hate being the bearer of bad, no… morbid news.

And then there was the fact that he liked me. I mean, I liked him too, but only as my very best friend in the world. But I loved Fang. I knew that me and Asch talked about these feelings and agreed that we should stay friends, but still. I know I shouldn't have felt guilty about it, but I couldn't help it. He confessed his love for me and I couldn't return that feeling, and now he was dead.

But Asch wouldn't want me feeling this way. He would want me to be happy. I just hope I could take as good of care of Lily as he did.

I left the room with my head looking down towards the floor. Then I walked right into someone. I looked up to see it was Fang.

"What are you up to?" he asked.

"Not much," I said. But I should have known that he would see right through that.

"I know you're worried about her, but you don't have to be. She's going to come out of it any day now."

"It's not so much waiting for her to wake up. It's having to have to tell her that Asch is gone."

"Oh, I see. Well, I hate to be Mr. Tough Love, but we've dealt with bad news like this when we were her age. She's just gonna have to do the same."

"Yeah, I know. It's just gonna be so hard to tell her when she asks."

"Hard for whom? Her or you?"

I looked up into his eyes. "Both, I guess." Then I looked back into the room for a second and then back at him. "I just wish that Asch was still here, you know, to be here for her. Sometimes it feels like he, and the rest of his flock for that matter, are just going to come out of the wall and it'll be like nothing happened."

"So he can come out and say something silly, 'Maxie'."

"Yeah, but I don't know if I can do as good a job as he did."

"Hey, you took good care of Angel. And you can take care of Lily. Besides, it's not just you. We have help now. We have Dr. Martinez to help us out. She's practically been a goddess to us."

"She has. Look, can we change the subject? All this talk about death is making me feel depressed."

"Well, you brought it up. I was just trying to feel better."

"I know. Thanks."

Before I knew it, Fang had his arms wrapped around me and pulled me towards him. They felt so hard and yet so comforting. I slid my hands onto his back and embraced his hug. He felt so warm, and I loved it. I put my face in his chest. I wanted to cry, but I kept it in. I wasn't about to ruin this moment.

After a moment, I looked up to him. He was staring down at me. Then I closed my eyes and we pressed our lips to each other's. It was like a wave went through me. His kisses were so amazing. I loved the feel of his lips on mine.

Then I felt his tongue slip its way into my mouth. I welcomed it and massaged his with mine. If time could freeze like this, I wouldn't mind. We slowly backed up until the wall was against my back.

His mouth left mind and then he started to trace my neck with kisses. I could feel my already fast heartbeat speed up as he did so. I almost forgot how romantic Fang could be. I almost forgot how good he felt. I sucked in deep breaths as his lips touched my skin.

He came back to my mouth and we shared even more kisses. I loved him so much. I wanted him so much. I slid my hands to his neck and his face, as he slid his down to my hips. I didn't try to stop him. I loved his touch.

Then I realized that he was slipping his hands under my shirt. I felt his warm, hard hands against my stomach. I felt them slowly climb up me. I gripped his shoulders, absolutely loving it, welcoming his touch. His hands came up even higher, his right hand a little higher his fingertips less than a centimeter from my breast.

"Ewww!" cried Gazzy from our left side. Fang and I quickly separated and looked at Gazzy in horror. What was even worse was that Iggy was right behind him.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"They were making out right here in the hallway."

"Aww, come on guys. Save it for the honeymoon."

My cheeks felt hot as the blood rushed to them from embarrassment. Fang looked almost expressionless, as always. The only emotion he was showing was a slight quiver I could see in his eyes.

"If you don't like it," I said, "then don't watch."

"We can't help but watch if you do it right here in the hallway," said Gazzy, "Just be glad it wasn't Dr. Martinez who caught you."

Then the two of left and went downstairs.

Fang and I looked at each other. Fang cracked a smile and said, "You know, he's right," he said, "We need to find more private moments and places to do something like that again."

"Yeah," I said, "maybe we should get a room."

"One without six other children and a doctor?"

"Exactly."

We both shared a laugh and then a short kiss. "I think I'm gonna go to bed," I said, "then we'll see if we can survive another day at school."

"All right, good night Max."

"Good night."

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Asch slept in his hospital bed. Falling asleep wasn't so hard for him since his body still needed rest.

But as he dreamed, a disturbing image had come into his mind.

He dreamed of the raging flames that were all around him, the fire that he had caused. Then he saw the dark figure approach him.

"Remember my warning," he spoke in a deep and graceful voice, "if seek me out, I will destroy you. This is the last time I will tell you."

Then the figure took his very long sword and removed it from his belt. With great speed, he swung the sword down onto Asch.

Asch jolted out of bed with a scream, but he quickly stifled it. He was able to control himself this time. He suddenly had a feeling of déjà vu. This had happened sometime before. He remembered seeing this image not once, but twice.

It slowly dawned on him. This wasn't just some recurring dream. It was real. This… Sephiroth person was real.

Who was he? What did he want? Why did he want Asch to stay away? Or more importantly, why was he at the Facility? And there were many more questions that could have stemmed from those.

All Asch knew was that he had to find out. Something wasn't right. He could feel it. His instincts told him that the world wasn't safe.

He would know. He was made to help save it.

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Sephiroth stood on a hill, overlooking the city of Los Angeles. He had traveled the world, seeing for himself the taint of the world that he was taught about. The taint that he was trained to destroy.

It was time to begin his mission, the mission given to him by the one he knew as Mother.

But he couldn't do it alone. He would need others. He would need help.

Tomorrow, he would give the world its fair chance to join him, to save itself. Tomorrow, he would begin to build his army.

* * *

Please keep sending those reviews. No need to be shy. Thank you. 


	6. Confronting the Bird Boy

Just a couple of notes:

First, to **Bubble Blower**, I am only having the two POVs, Maxand the narrator, me. I try to stick to the way JP did it. Although JP pulls it off way better than me, but I'm glad my readers like it.

Next, to **xxApocalypsexx**, I might put in other Final Fantasy 7 characters or elements but I don't know who or what. If anyone has suggestions, I'm open to them. And if my readers have been paying attention, I've been making tiny references to FF7 throughout the story. Can anybody find the ones I've made so far?

Bonus: I found that I made something that was in FF8. The first who can find this one will get a prize.

Okay, on with Chapter 6.

* * *

Serena walked through the halls of Timber High School. Her first day of school wasn't going so bad. She was still somewhat stressed out over Asch. She knew the building and yet she had trouble finding a couple of rooms. It was still getting to her.

At lunch, she found Monty and Laurie and sat down with them. Maybe seeing someone familiar might calm her down.

"Hey guys," she said.

"Hey Serena," they both said.

"How's it goin'?" asked Laurie.

"All right, I guess."

"How's the… uhh… you know… the bird boy?"

"He's gonna be fine. He was in some sort of coma when we found him. Oh, and he's not actually a bird boy. Those… wings were actually fake."

"Fake?" Monty almost shouted, "They looked pretty real to me. I mean, I saw them. They were attached to his body."

"No, they weren't. It turns out that A… that guy was a bit of a… uhh… a nut job. He thought he could fly and he put these… synthetic wing things on his back. He tried to jump out a tree and fly, and… ker-splat."

"Whoa," said Laurie.

"Oh, man," said Monty, "For a while, I thought we made the scientific discovery of the century."

"Sorry, Monty. Even one of the doctors recognized him because he did something like this before. He's been in and out of psychiatric hospitals. He's a total head case."

"All he needs is a brother and we can call him Mr. Wright."

"C'mon Monty," said Laurie.

"Hey, I have something to ask you two. Where were you at the hospital? You said you'd come but you didn't."

"Oh, yeah. They wouldn't let us in. They said only family and friends could see him after he was cleared to be visited and during visiting hours. You were the only exception because you brought him in. We waited for a couple of hours and we decided to leave. Sorry."

"It's all right. I figured something like that might have happened."

"So the guy's gonna be all right?" asked Monty, "We don't have to worry about him."

"No, he'll be fine. He's well taken care of."

"Good," said Laurie, "So now, onto other things, like how boring that biology teacher was."

Serena was glad to be talking about other things besides Asch. But at the same time she wanted to talk about him. She wanted to dump his secrets to them like he had done to her. Then she wouldn't be the only one to have to keep his secrets.

It was so frustrating, but in the end, she decided not to tell them. But she wasn't so sure if she wanted to see Asch again. He was so trusting and so welcoming, and at the same time she wanted to lash out at him.

Maybe one more visit would be all right, just to confirm how she felt about him. She would go see him after school. She would just need to come up with yet another lie to convince her parents.

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"So, how are we feeling?" Dr. Trapp asked Asch.

"I guess I'm all right," said Asch, "I feel like nothing's happened to me."

"Well, now that your body is getting much-needed rest, your strength is returning and you'll be one hundred percent soon."

"Oh, by the way, thanks for sneaking in real food for me. No offense, but I can't stand the food here."

"That's quite all right. Your body would need a lot more than what the hospital would serve you anyway. Besides, I think the food here tastes like cardboard too."

"So, when do you think that I could get out of here?"

"Well, you could probably get out tomorrow. But I would still need you to take it easy for a few days. But first, there's something I need to check."

Dr. Trapp went over to a table and picked up a piece of paper. Then he extended his arm. "Just see if you can light this on fire. Don't try to engulf it flames, just light a small section of it."

"Simple enough."

Asch concentrated on the piece of paper. He focused on the upper left corner. Creating fire was simple enough for him, but this time it seemed a little more difficult for him. He concentrated even harder, but nothing happened. He couldn't light the paper on fire.

"I… I can't do it," said Asch.

Dr. Trapp sighed and lowered his arm with the paper in it. "I was afraid of that."

"Afraid of what?"

"Your body gave out so much energy that you lost your abilities."

"What?! I lost them?!"

"Don't worry. As your body recovers, so will your abilities. But it's going to take time. So in the meantime, no trying to fly, no hyper speed, and no fire. Only try maybe… once a day. If you can't do it without pushing yourself, then don't bother until it's easy like it used to be."

"I can't believe this."

"Hey, this could be a good thing. Give yourself a chance to rest. To take it easy for a while. If Max really did stop Itex, then the world is safe and there's nothing to worry about."

Of course, Asch wasn't so sure about that, but he didn't say anything about that.

"I suppose you're right, but still… it's gonna be strange. I'm so used to using them all the time. I use my pyro for cooking."

"Don't worry, you'll be back to your old self in no time."

Asch lay back in his bed and sighed. This was not good. He knew that Sephiroth person was out and about. But if he didn't have any of his abilities, how would he be able to face him? Or find him for that matter?

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Asch looked up towards the door.

"Come on in," said Dr. Trapp.

The door opened and Serena walked through.

"Well, hello there Ms. Salisbury," said Dr. Trapp.

"Hello, Dr. Trapp," said Serena.

"Well, hello Serena," said Asch, "I didn't think you wanted to see me again."

"Well, I guess I proved you wrong."

"I guess you did."

"I think I'll leave you two to talk for a while," said Dr. Trapp. He left the room and Asch and Serena alone.

"So what made you change your mind?" asked Asch.

"I didn't really change my mind," said Serena, "I just wasn't sure if I wanted to see you again."

"Oh. You know, I think we got off on the wrong foot the other day. When I said 'tell me about yourself', I didn't mean tell me your big secrets. My life pretty much is a big secret. I think that's why you got that impression after I told you about me."

"No, I knew what you meant, sort of. It's just that, I'm never comfortable talking about myself."

"Why not?"

"Well, no one ever really asks about me. I'm just not used to it."

"Why wouldn't they ask about you?"

Serena only looked at him.

"Oh, I get it. Well, we don't have to get into that. Now yesterday, you said that you like movies. What kind of movies do you like?"

"I watch a lot of movies. I'm a big movie person."

"Now there's something to build on. I'm a movie person too. You should have seen this huge movie collection I had where I used to live."

"Really?"

"I must have had at least a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty."

"Oh, wow. What's your favorite movie?"

"I don't know. I like so many, I just can't pick one."

"Me neither, but if I had to pick one, I guess it would have to be… _The Breakfast Club_."

"_The Breakfast Club_? Talk about irony."

"What do you mean?"

"A bunch of strangers thrown together and finding themselves opening up to each other and becoming friends. Does this sound familiar?"

Serena stood there for a minute. Then realization washed over. "Oh, man," she said.

"And I didn't even have to ask you. You came right out and told me. I think we're making progress. Plus, anyone who enjoyed that movie can't be as bad as they say. And you saved my life, so I _know_ you're a nice person."

"Not as nice as you think," Serena mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"You said 'not as nice as you think'. I heard you. My hearing is better than most people. So, what do you mean by that?"

"I… I just don't know if I want to tell you. You might think differently of me."

Asch realized what she meant and quickly said, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I… I keep going back to it. I'm sorry. Let's talk about something else."

"Well…when are you going to get out of here?"

"Dr. Trapp says tomorrow. But I've lost those abilities that I told you about. They'll come back slowly though. But I won't be able to fly to where Max is staying. I'll have to take a plane. But I don't have any money."

"I could get you some."

"NO! I'm not about to let my situation affect you like that."

"Well, let me help you somehow. I mean, if you're not going to leave, then you'll need somewhere to stay. You could stay with me."

"I couldn't let you do that."

"No, it's all right. I'll ask my parents. We have a guestroom at our house. They'll probably let you stay until you can leave."

"What about my… you know…" Asch said, pointing backwards with his thumb towards his wings.

"I haven't told them about you. I can make something up though. Something simple."

Asch shook his head. "I can't believe you're doing this. I really appreciate this."

"You have this way of… making me feel bad for being mad at you."

"You know what the funny thing is? That's not the first time someone's felt that way about me."

Serena smiled and shook her head. "Maybe I just might learn to like you, after all."

* * *

As always, please review. 


	7. Special Report

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Getting your bathroom renovated and learning to play keyboard can be kind of distracting.

* * *

The second day of school went almost the same way as the first. I still had that Billy Barret kid eyeing me, but he didn't try to talk to me this time. He just got in looks whenever he could. Stalk much, Billy?

I also saw that Gina Lockhart girl I met in gym class the other day. She sat with me and the others and brought a couple of her friends, Christy and Alana. All three of them seemed really nice. It turned out that Gina had just moved here a here year ago, so she knew what it was like to be new.

Oh man, I was becoming one of the girls.

I could see Fang and Iggy rolling their eyes. Carl just kind of sat and watched, like he was watching T.V. He must have still been a little nervous to be around us. If he knew what we really were, I may not have blamed him, but we were doing a good job of being normal, so I didn't really understand why. He must have just been shy.

For the second day in a row, the day managed to go without major problems. That was a spectacular improvement from the last time we had been to school.

The flock, Ella, and I walked back to Dr. Martinez's house after picking up Angel and Gazzy. Gazzy managed to have an explosion-free day. Angel said she had fun in fifth grade. I didn't know whether to be comforted or worried by that.

We came to the house and were surprised to find that Dr. Martinez was home. She usually wasn't back for another couple of hours after school.

"Hi Dr. Martinez," I said as we found her in the living room. She was sitting on the couch watching the television intently.

"Hey, come here," she said as she looked at us. "Have you seen this? I'm surprised the schools didn't let you out early."

All of us gathered around the couch and looked at the television. What we saw almost took our breath away. Dr. Martinez was watching the news. On the television was a scene of absolute devastation. There was a female reporter there describing the scene.

"What we are seeing is just… beyond words. Behind me is what… what used to be the city of Los Angeles. Now, it has just been reduced to rubble. Nobody can even begin to describe what has taken place here."

There were multiple shots of city. I watched with my mouth agape, as did everyone else. Los Angeles had been completely obliterated.

The reporter continued. "What was once one of America's greatest cities has now been reduced to nothing. Rescuers continue to look and hope to find survivors, but, in all honesty, it looks very bleak. There have been no survivors found, therefore no witnesses as to what could have possibly happened here. It looks as if this is the result of… explosions of colossal magnitude, but no one can say anything for certain at this point."

"Oh my God," said Fang.

"I can't believe this," said Nudge.

The reporter continued to speak. "Again, this happened roughly two hours ago."

The camera then went back to the reporter standing in the area. This was just too overwhelming. What could have caused this?

As I watched the reporter continue to talk about what happened, I saw some movement at the left side of the screen in the background. The thing seemed to be coming closer. As it did, it began to take shape. It was a person, a man. He was walking closer to the reporter. Then I could see it. He had a huge, black wing protruding from his back.

"Guys," I said, "you see that?"

"See what?" asked Fang.

"At the side of the screen," I said, pointing to it, "There's someone coming towards that reporter."

Everyone leaned forward to look and they saw him.

"What the heck is that?" asked Gazzy, "Is that a wing he's got?"

All of a sudden the figure moved very fast toward the reporter until he was only a few feet behind her. We could all see him clearly now. He had long silver hair and bright, emerald eyes. He was wearing a black trench coat with belted black boots. His wing was mostly made of black feathers with some purple and blue on the inside.

The cameraman didn't even have time to react. A few seconds after the figure came behind the reporter, he staggered back. He tried to tell the reporter but she didn't understand.

Then the figure pulled out a long sword that was at his right hip. The reporter turned around but it was too late. In one swift move, he lunged the sword right through her chest. The reporter screamed in pain. Angel screamed from the sight and Dr. Martinez covered her eyes. I saw Ella cover her own eyes.

The figure didn't say a word or make a noise. After a few seconds, he pulled the sword out of the reporter and placed it back on his belt. The camera shook a bit as it taped this. The cameraman must have been scared stiff.

The figure looked to the camera. "Don't move," he said in a deep voice.

The cameraman did as he was told. The camera stayed focused on this scary being.

"Is this on?" the figure asked. The camera shook up and down a little bit.

"Good, I have a message for all those who are watching this." He looked straight at the camera. "Denizens of Earth, my name is Sephiroth. I was born here on this planet in a facility belonging to a company you know as Itex."

I froze after hearing that name. I didn't think I would be hearing about Itex again, especially after all the riots and boycotts that put them out of business.

Sephiroth continued speaking. "I was born with one purpose: to destroy this planet."

Everyone gasped. But for some reason, I wasn't so shocked. Itex and world destruction seemed to coincide so much it didn't surprise me anymore.

"This world has been tainted. It has been corrupted beyond repair. It is my intention of relieving this world of its doomed existence. At the rate this world is progressing, it will eventually destroy itself. I am merely speeding up the process."

"What the hell?" said Fang, "What is he going on about?"

"A lot of you will probably watch this and think I might be mad, but if you look behind me, if you look at what I am capable of, those thoughts will quickly be put away. Yes, for those of you still wondering, I am the one who has destroyed this city. This is but a small sample of the power I wield."

"Oh my God," said Nudge, "What is he?"

"Now, it is not my intention to destroy the people of this planet. At least, not all of them. If you wish to join me, if you share the view that I have, that this world is doomed, if you wish for salvation, then come here to the ravages of this once grand city. I can train you, help you to survive, and together, we will form a new, superior race. But I must warn you, if you are not with me, then you are against me. And I will know if you are against me. And if anyone tries to stop me…"

He pulled out his sword again and then swung it towards the camera. There was slight scream from the cameraman and then the screen went fuzzy.

"I don't believe this," said Dr. Martinez, "have you guys ever heard of this guy? He said he was from Itex."

"No," I said, "I don't remember hearing of any experiment called Sephiroth. How 'bout you guys?"

The flock shook their heads.

"My God," said Ella, "he destroyed that whole city. He killed all those people."

"I know Ella," said Fang, "just try not to think about it so much. Be glad you and your mother are alive right now."

"So what do we do?" asked Angel, clearly still shaken from what she just watched. She had seen some pretty intense stuff for someone her age, but I'm not sure of anything like this.

"What do you mean 'what do we do'?" asked Gazzy, "Did you see that guy? What could we possibly do to stop something like him?"

"Did you forget why we were made?" I asked him.

"Uhh, Max," said Iggy, "we were made to destroy the world too. We just chose not to."

"Oh, yeah. Well, then, did you forget why _I_ was made?"

"No, you were made to save the world from Itex," said Fang.

"And this Sephiroth guy was made from Itex. As far as I'm concerned, that falls under our jurisdiction."

"I guess you have a point there, but what _are_ we gonna do? That guy isn't Jeb or Anne or Marian Janssen. He was made to be like this."

"Well, I guess maybe we could accept his invitation and got to L.A. Or what's left of it.

"Are you nuts?! He just said he'll know if someone is against him. How do you plan to get around that little loophole?"

"How about we just spy on him?" suggested Iggy, "We could just go down there and check out what he's up to and figure something out from there."

I thought about it for a minute. I had no idea what else this guy was capable of, so just going in after him might have been suicide. I needed to know my enemy before I took him on. I think that was something my voice taught me.

"All right, let's go with Iggy's plan," I said.

"Wait," said Dr. Martinez, "you're not seriously going after that guy, are you?"

"We have to Dr. Martinez," I said, "It's… kind of our mission in life. We have to stop anything that's looking to destroy the world, especially if it was made by Itex."

"I understand that Max, but this doesn't look like anything you've told us about."

"Don't worry, we'll be super careful." I looked over to Angel. I walked up to her and knelt down. "Angel, are you okay? Do you want to stay here?"

"No," she said, "we're a team. I'm going with you."

"You don't have to push yourself Angel. If you don't want to go, that's all right. It might be better if you don't."

"No, I wanna go. I want to help."

I couldn't help but smile. She was so brave for a nine-year-old. "All right Angel."

I got up and addressed everybody. "Okay, guys. We're off to Los Angeles."

"Hooray," said Nudge, "we're off to save the world again!"

* * *

Again, sorry it took me a while to update. Don't hate me. And please, please review. 


	8. Back in the Picture

The next day, Asch was in his hospital room, changing into some real clothes that Dr. Trapp brought him. He changed into the black short-sleeve shirt, blue jean shorts, and dark blue sneakers.

When he finished changing, Dr. Trapp came into the room. He closed the door behind him.

"Oh, good," he said, "Looks like I got the sizes right."

"Yeah, they fit pretty good. Thanks for getting them for me."

"No problem. So uhhh… have you heard about what happened in Los Angeles?"

"Yeah, I saw it on the television in here."

"What did you think? A lot of people think it's fake. It's just some guy taking credit for a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, there have been a lot of people flocking to L.A."

"He's for real all right. I've seen him before, at the Facility."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I barely remember him though. It was when the place was up in flames. He came to me and was about to kill me, but then he decided to spare me and took off. He said if I tried to find him, he'd kill me. I don't really see the point to that if he was just gonna destroy the world."

"You're not actually going to go after him, are you?"

"I don't know. I can't now. My abilities are gone. Going after him would probably be suicide. But still I gotta do something. And if Max knows about this guy, I have no doubt she'll go after him. I'll have to contact her or find her somehow, if she's still alive that is."

"Yes, don't do anything reckless. Wait until you get your strength and abilities back before you even think of doing anything."

"That's gonna be hard to do. Just sitting around and doing nothing while the world is in trouble. I mean, you made me to help save it. It's built into my DNA. It's like an itch I can't scratch."

"Look, just relax and take it easy for a while. There's nothing you can do now so don't worry about it. You seem to have made friends with that Serena girl. Why don't you make the best of it?"

"I guess you're right. Still…"

"Well, what do you say we get you outta here?"

"Sounds good to me," said Asch as he started heading for the door.

"What are you doing?" asked Dr. Trapp.

"I'm getting out of here."

"Well, you haven't been signed out, so technically you're still a patient." Dr. Trapp pulled out a wheelchair and then patted on it. Asch sighed and then walked over to it and sat down. He hated being pushed around in it.

Dr. Trapp wheeled him out to the front lobby where Serena was waiting.

Dr. Trapp took a paper that was at the desk and signed it. "Okay, you're all set."

"So I can get up now?"

"Yes, you can get up now," said Dr. Trapp laughing.

Asch got out of the wheelchair and stood up. He saw Serena and then turned to Dr. Trapp. "Well, thanks a lot doc."

"No problem. And if you need anything, and I mean anything, just come find me. I'll help in any way I can."

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

"Oh, one more thing that I want to tell you Asch. Your parents would be proud of you."

Asch was silent for a few seconds. He hadn't thought about his parents in a long time. He knew they were probably nice people, but they still gave him up for the Counter-Breed project. But then again, the other option, using the children of others like Itex did, would have just been a greater sin.

"Wow doc. Way to bring up a sappy moment."

Dr. Trapp merely smiled and shook his head.

Then Asch asked, "You wouldn't happen to know where I could find them, would you?"

"Well, no," said Dr. Trapp with a sigh, "They resigned from ShawCorp too, as far as I know. And it's most likely they changed their names like I did. But it wouldn't be impossible to track them down. Well, you better get going."

"All right. Thanks Dr. Gord…. I mean, Dr. Trapp."

"You're quite welcome."

Asch walked away from Dr. Trapp and towards Serena. She was standing near the door of the lobby.

"Are you medically cleared?" she asked jokingly.

"Well, according to Dr. Trapp, I was never a patient here. So I was never medically restricted in the first place.

"Oh," said Serena, understanding what he meant, "Well, in that case, let's get go to my house."

"Oooh, the lair of the _mysterious_ Serena Salisbury. Can't wait."

"Yeah, whatever. Come on."

The two of them walked out of the door and outside into the parking lot. Asch followed Serena to her car. It was an emerald green Ford Taurus. It looked almost brand new, or at least really clean. Asch let out a whistle.

"I take it this isn't a hand-me-down," he said as Serena unlocked both doors with the remote.

"Yeah, well… I'm not about to say my parents are rich, but they have more money than most people around here."

Serena climbed into the driver's side as Asch came into the passenger side.

"Oh yeah, what do they do?" asked Asch as they closed their doors and Serena started the engine.

"Well, my mom's a dentist and… well, my mom's an assistant district attorney in Denver."

"Wait, your mom is a dentist _and _an A.D.A."

"No."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I mean, well, let's just say that between my two parents, there isn't a Y chromosome between them."

Asch pondered that for a minute. Then he asked, "Wait a minute, you mean you have two moms?"

"Yes, moms; plural."

"But how is that… oh."

"Bingo. You got it pal. That's not going to be a problem is it?"

"What? Oh, no. You're taking me into your home. The last thing I'm about to do is complain about your family politics. Besides, I'm kind of neutral on that whole issue anyway."

Serena just let out a quick smile.

"So does that mean you're adopted?"

"No, my younger mother, Alice, gave birth to me. A friend of hers was a donor."

"Oh, I see. I take it this isn't your big secret that you don't want to tell me."

Serena let out a sigh. "No, it's not." She backed the car out of the parking spot and started driving towards her house.

Throughout the car ride, Serena and Asch talked about Sephiroth and what Asch and Max could possibly do about him.

"Do you really think you can beat that guy?" asked Serena, "he destroyed an entire city."

"I know I won't be able to destroy him now, not without my ability to fly at least. Plus, he's got that crazy sword. I gotta get past that somehow. And Max, I don't know if she stands a chance. ShawCorp didn't have any data on this project. I don't know why we didn't anything about it."

"So you're saying it's looking pretty bad?"

"For now, yeah. I've gotta get into contact with Dr. Martinez first to see if Max is all right. Then I have to gain my abilities back. And then we'll form a plan from there."

"You think you'll get all that done in time?"

"If Sephiroth needs followers to train, then his plan is probably going to take awhile. But I'd hate to think what he has in mind for those people."

Serena made it to the house. It was rather big, white with a dark blue trim, and two stories high.

Serena parked in the driveway and cut the engine and the both of them got out of the car.

"Home sweet home," said Serena.

"Yeah, it is pretty sweet," said Asch, "I wouldn't mind living here."

The two went inside the house through the front door. They came into a living room that was painted white with black leather furniture. There was a glass coffee table in the middle of the room. In one of the corners of the room was a grand piano.

"I thought you guys said you weren't rich," said Asch.

"We're not," said Serena, "we just like nice things."

"Nice piano you've got there," said Asch as he walked over to it and then sat down at it.

"You play?"

"You could say I've dabbled on a keyboard," Asch said as he began playing a song, "It's been a while though."

Asch continued to play the song, his fingers flowing over the keys. He managed to hit almost every note. The grand piano was much different from Asch's keyboard.

When he finished the song, Serena let out a small applause. Then applause came from another room. Asch and Serena looked over to see another person coming into the room.

A woman with red hair and green eyes was walking in. She was rather tall and wearing a blue shirt with khakis. "That was very good," she said, "It's about time someone else besides Caroline plays that thing in here."

"It's a nice piano," said Asch.

"You must be Asch," said the woman, "I'm Alice; Serena's mother."

"Oh, hello there," said Asch, extending his hand. Alice took it and shook it. When she let go Asch said, "So, I suppose Serena told you about my situation."

"Yes, she did. That must have been awful, being out there in the woods and then getting attacked and mugged and then being put in a coma from it."

"Uhh, yeah," said Asch, glancing at Serena for a moment, "but it's only temporary, until I can get to where I belong. Thank you for letting me stay here."

"It's no problem. I'm just sorry Caroline isn't here yet to meet you. She's out in Denver right now working a case. From what Serena here told me, you two became fast friends."

"Yeah, we did."

"Oh, by the way, Serena did tell you about our situation here, didn't she?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm not about to complain here."

"Oh, good. Serena, why don't you show him to his room and get him settled in?"

"All right," said Serena.

"Do you have any bags Asch?"

"I've got nothing but the clothes on my body," said Asch.

"Well," said Alice, "maybe Serena can take you shopping later for some changes of clothes."

"Ahh, stop being so nice to a total stranger. You're making me feel bad for being out in the woods."

"It's no problem. If you haven't noticed, we kind of have money to spare."

"Thank you so much."

"Well, come on," said Serena, "I'll show you to your room."

Asch and Serena went upstairs and into the guestroom. Asch looked around at the room. It was a somewhat big room. There was a queen size bed against the wall near the window and several wooden drawers around the walls.

"Does it suit you?" Serena asked.

"It's better than that hospital room. Thank you. You and your family don't have to bend over backwards for me."

"It's no trouble. Now, come on. Let's get you some clothes."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mike Philips, a 32-year-old construction worker from San Diego, approached Sephiroth in the wreckage that was once Los Angeles.

He got on his knees when he came near him.

"Sephiroth," he said, "I wish to join you. I agree with you. This world is terrible. I wish to join your new one."

Sephiroth turned to look at the man. He had brown hair and blue eyes. He was rather muscular from his working construction.

"Please get off your knees," Sephiroth said, "begging is weak. I'm trying to eliminate weakness."

Mike quickly stood up. Sephiroth continued to observe the man. He was the first to approach Sephiroth since he had made his announcement. After a few moments, Sephiroth said, "Perhaps there is potential in you. But are you ready to endure harsh training? You must be of great ability to be able to survive in the new world."

"Yes, I'm ready," said Mike.

"Very well, but to live in the new world, you must have a new name, a new identity. Your new name will be… Jericho."

Mike smiled. He was the first recruit in Sephiroth's army. The first of many who would join to form a new world.


	9. Choice

I was still getting Dr. Martinez's ire as we were getting ready to leave for Los Angeles. She was insistent that we don't go, even though she knew that we had to go.

We finished packing a couple of back packs with a few sandwiches and some spy stuff like binoculars and some walkie-talkies in case we had to split up.

We all headed outside, me carrying one back pack and Fang the other. Dr. Martinez and Ella followed us out of the house. Before we took off, I looked over to her and said, "Don't worry, we'll be back soon. We'll be fine."

With that, I shouted "U & A" and the six of us took it to the air. I could tell that we were all a little uneasy. Just seeing the destruction that Sephiroth person was able to create yesterday was sending shivers down my spine. But what I really wanted to know was why we never knew about him before. He wasn't on display in Germany, I knew that. Was he another one of those Itex best-kept secrets? Or maybe he was some kind of reject.

Whatever he was, he was evil, plain and simple. And we had to find some way to stop him. Omega was supposed to be the pinnacle of Itex's mutant work, and I was able to beat him in a one-on-one fight. Maybe this Sephiroth person wasn't that tough. But then again, you should never assume anything about your enemy.

The flight only took about two hours. And it was relatively quiet, probably from us still getting over the shock of the attack on Los Angeles.

We landed a few hundred yards from the wreckage. I couldn't really see anything from where we were. But I did see that there were a lot of people gathered in one area. There must have been hundreds, maybe thousands of them. We needed to get closer.

We all started sneaking through the ruins of Los Angeles, making sure not to make any noise so the crowd couldn't hear us. We found a part of a building that was still standing and climbed up on it. It was a good lookout spot for us. We could see the crowd of people surrounding Sephiroth. We could also hear everything he was saying. He was making some sort of speech.

"You who are all here are here because you have proven you are worthy to be a part of the new world. You are about to become a part of something very special. You have been stripped of your past lives and been given new ones to prepare for this new world."

"Oh, man," I said, "he's brainwashing them."

"It's only been a day," said Fang, "he couldn't have started his training yet. More people are still coming. Look."

He pointed to some people who were approaching the group. Sephiroth continued his speech.

"When your training is complete, I will show you how we will accomplish creating a new world. Others are still trying to join us. I will give six more days for the remaining denizens of this planet who wish to join us to do so. In the meantime, those of you here will begin to receive your training."

"Six days," I said, "So we have time to stop this before it can begin."

"You think we could?" asked Iggy.

I looked over to him and Fang on my right. Then I said, "I don't know, but we could use the time to spy on him and get information on him."

I looked back towards the crowd, only it wasn't the crowd that was in my sight. I had a black leather jacket in my face. I looked up and got the shock of my life. It was Sephiroth, hovering right in front of me!

We all jumped back. I yelped in my fright and Angel screamed.

"That was an invitation for you I worked into that last part," he said in a voice that seemed to have no emotion but graceful pronunciation.

"Invitation?" I said, "Thanks but no thanks."

"Well, you still have the six days to think about it. You are experiments from Itex as well I see. You must have been rejected just like I had been. Why wouldn't you want to join me?"

"Because you want to destroy the world. We worked our butts off to save it, twice. We're not about to let you ruin it."

"My purpose is the same as yours, to save the world. But you saved a corrupt and tainted world. I will save it by taking those who share my view and create a new one."

"Why does Itex think the only way to save the world is to destroy it?"

"I have traveled this planet. I have seen the corruption and taint that Itex created me to destroy."

"You mean… you're an avian-human hybrid like us?" asked Gazzy.

"Correct, although I was rejected. They locked me away at the Facility in a chamber where I would be put in an eternal coma."

"Why were you rejected?" asked Fang, "Was it because you only grew one wing?"

"No, I can fly perfectly well with one wing. It was because Itex feared my power. The only one who stood at my defense was Mother, but she was over-ruled. So they locked me away. But I had escaped thanks to an explosion at the Facility caused by that other hybrid."

The breath got pulled from my body. The explosion he was talking about was the one that Asch had caused from using his powers.

"Wait," I said, "You saw Asch?"

"Yes, he was hanging onto life by a single thread. I could have easily killed him, but I decided not to. But I gave him a warning that if he crossed my path, I would destroy him."

"So he's alive?"

"As far as I know."

I couldn't believe it. Asch was alive. I wanted to scream out in joy but I figured it wasn't the time with the face of evil right in front of me.

"So, will you join me?" he asked.

"No!" we all cried in unison.

"Well, you still have six days. But think about this. Do you really think the people of this planet will accept you as their saviors? Mere mutant children? Freaks?"

"You're one to call us freaks!" yelled Iggy.

"I'm only saying how people will see you. Do you really think they want you to be the one to thank, if at all? What kind of world is worth saving if no cares about you?"

"Sure, it has its problems," I said, "but that doesn't mean it's a bad place."

"Maybe, but to a corrupt mind, a corrupt world is perfect. You have six days. Think about it."

After that, he flew back towards the crowd. I let out a huge breath. He could have killed us any second, in a second, but he decided to give us a choice. Of course, we weren't going to join him, but still, his words were still hanging around us.

"What do you say we get out of here Max?" asked Fang.

"That's probably a good idea," I said.

I looked over to Angel to see that she was shaking a little bit. "Are you okay baby?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she said, "that guy was just really scary."

"Were you able to get into his mind?" asked Nudge.

"No, I tried, but it was like I was just pushed out. Not like a wall like the Counter-Breed, but I got in and then I was pushed out."

"So mind powers aren't an option," I said.

"I'm sorry Max."

"It's okay. You tried. You have nothing to be sorry for."

"Max, we should get out of here for now," said Fang, "I think we're drawing that crowd's attention."

"Yeah, all right. Let's U & A."

So we took off and headed back to Dr. Martinez's. I'm sure it was bothering everyone else about the choice Sephiroth gave us. But what was really getting to me was that Asch was still alive. I just couldn't believe it. How did he survive that explosion?

Well, he is a pyrokinetic. He's impervious to fire. But I thought maybe the energy it took to make such explosions was what would kill him. That he used his power too much.

But that didn't matter now. He was alive. And I had to find him. He was my best friend, practically my brother. And we would need all the help we could get to fight Sephiroth.

We flew towards Dr. Martinez's, knowing we were going to get a lot of yelling, then a lot of crying.

* * *

I'm sorry I haven't updated for a long time, again. I've been on vacation in Alaska for the past week with no computer access. But it gave me time to do some thinking for this story, and other stories, and I think I know where I'm going to take this one now.

Big thank you to all those who have stuck with this story. I'm glad you like it enough to deal with my recent lack in updates. I'll try to bring more updates, more often. I'm not going to give up and stop writing it.

Thanks again for reading. And of course, please review.


	10. Try to Fly

"I think you're the first guy I've ever met who likes to wear vests," said Serena as she pulled out of the parking lot of the local mall. Asch was sitting in the passenger seat and the clothes they had just bought for him were in bags in the back.

"I don't like them so much for their fashion rating as much as their conveniences," said Asch, laughing slightly, "The ones with pockets are best. For a person like me, you never know what you might need to carry and when you need it."

"What would you need to carry?"

"That's just it. You never know. Tools, weapons, maybe even stolen property."

Serena looked at Asch for a couple seconds and then said, "I won't ask."

"Good idea."

For a few minutes they rode in silence. Serena squirmed in her seat a little bit as she drove. Asch noticed and then asked, "What's the matter? You got an itch?"

"No, I can't be still when I'm anxious."

"What are you anxious about? You want to ask me something?"

"Well, yeah."

"Go ahead and ask. You got nothing to be nervous about. You already know the brunt of my story."

"Well, I guess I just want to know what it was like being a guinea pig."

Asch let out a short laugh. "I don't know if guinea pig was actually the right word. Compared to how Max and the others were treated, me and my flock had the royal treatment. The scientists there treated us like we were their kids. And, we were the kids of some of them."

"Wow, I never expected the test subjects to actually be treated nicely."

"Yeah, science fiction doesn't really do us justice. Although the Fang and the others got the cliché science experiment treatment."

"Oh, man. But you said Max was a part of the other flock, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but Max was a part of my flock until the raid on ShawCorp from Itex when they kidnapped Max. They altered her memories and made her think she had been with them all her life. That was about five years ago when she was twelve and I was thirteen." Asch looked out the window, shaking a bit at the memory, the day his best friend had been ripped away from him.

"This is a lot to take, so pardon me if I'm not getting all of it."

"Sometimes I have trouble believing it Serena. But it's my life, so I just gotta go with it. You know, when life hands you lemons."

Serena looked at Asch for a second, and then forward again. "I still can't believe how you take it so nonchalantly."

"I've explained this to you already. I take my life as anyone else does. Sure, I have more extremes than normal, but that comes with the territory."

Serena eventually made it back to her house and she and Asch brought his clothes to his room.

After they were done, Asch made his way downstairs toward the phone. When he picked it up, Serena asked, "Who are you calling?"

"I'm gonna try to find Dr. Martinez's number."

"So soon?"

"Would you rather me procrastinate? Besides, I got to get into contact with her about this Sephiroth situation as soon as possible. Plus, I need to let her know I'm okay."

Asch dialed 411 to get the operator. When he did a female voice plainly said, "Information, how may I help you?"

"Hi, I'm looking for the number for a Dr. Valencia Martinez."

"City and state, please?"

"Treemont, Arizona."

"Address?"

"I don't know the address."

"Please hold while we try to connect you." There was a click followed by music being played in the phone.

Asch looked over to Serena who was sitting in a chair staring at him. "I'm on hold. Nice music, though."

Serena smiled but then it quickly faded. Something was on her mind, Asch could tell. Something more than 'what it was like to be a guinea pig.

After a moment, the music stopped and the operator's voice came back, "I'm sorry sir, but the number you're asking for is currently unavailable."

"What do you mean?"

"The number for the person is unable to be connected through us. It could be a private phone line or it has been disconnected for now. Is there any other way we could help you?"

"No, thank you." Asch hung up the phone. "I should have known it wouldn't be that easy."

"What's wrong?"

"Dr. Martinez apparently has a private phone line. Probably because of her work. And since I don't know her number, and a phone book here would be useless."

"Sorry, Asch."

"Ahh, don't be sorry. You don't have anything to be sorry about."

Serena remained quiet for a minute. Then Asch asked, "Okay, what wrong? You got something on your mind. I can tell."

"Well, this is kind of a personal question. I'm really afraid to ask this."

Asch let out a sigh and cracked a smile, "Serena, I've told you all about how I'm a bird boy born in a lab. I can handle any question you can ask me."

"This is, like, human personal, you know, it can be touchy for some. I just want to be sure it's all right."

"Well, try me."

"Okay, here it goes. Are… are you… and Max a….uhhh, mates? Or a couple? However you see it."

Asch stared at Serena for a few seconds. She was right. That question was a little more awkward from her usual line of questioning.

Asch managed to recover himself and answer. "Oh, no, no, no. Eww, no. Fang and Max are a couple. Not me and Max. Max and I are best friends. Although, I will admit, I did have a crush on her once upon a time. But she loved Fang, and I accepted that."

"So you don't love her anymore?"

"Of course I do. I'd give my life for Maximum Ride. I'm just not… _in_ love with her anymore. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you seemed really obsessed with finding Max. I thought there was something more personal going on there."

"Oh, you were trying to go psychiatrist on me, huh?" asked Asch, laughing a little.

"Yeah, I guess," said Serena, her smile returning.

After a moment, Asch asked, "Hey, where's your Mom?"

"Which one?"

"The one who's not in Denver."

"Oh, she went to work."

"Well, then, now is as good a time as any."

"For what?"

"What else? To see if I can fly again."

Asch started heading to the back door of the house with Serena following behind him, intrigued by what he was doing. Asch and Serena came through the back door and into Serena's backyard. It was rather wide with an above-ground pool in it. Asch checked the other backyards to make sure that no one was around. Nobody was. Then he took his shirt off.

Serena watched as Asch, his back towards her, spread out his pointed wings with their chocolate brown color. He flapped them a little bit to get the blood running through them. Then they started flapping faster. After a couple of minutes, they were moving so fast she could barely see them.

But Asch never lifted off of the ground.

After a couple more minutes of flapping, he stopped and sighed. Then he fell to his hands and knees, gasping for breath.

Serena quickly ran to his side. She got down on her knees to talk to Asch.

"Asch, are you all right?" she asked.

"Yeah… I'm okay," Asch said between breaths.

"What happened?"

"I'm obviously not ready to fly yet. I can flap my wings to the point where I can fly, but I just can't fly yet. I guess it'll take another day or two before I get it back. Then I can start working on my speed and pyrokinesis."

"Well, don't push yourself. I know you need to get to Max and help stop Sephiroth, but you should take it easy."

"Yeah, you're right. So, what do you do for fun in this town?"

* * *

Please R&R


	11. Doubt

I could tell you everything that Dr. Martinez berated us with about our leaving to look for Sephiroth, but I'll just give you the condensed version.

There was yelling, screaming, finger-shaking, other various hand motions, crying, and hugging. For a few minutes, I could have sworn that she was actually our mother.

After her escapade through the emotional spectrum, we all apologized for worrying her so much, but it was something we had to do.

After that, it was time for dinner, followed by the world famous cookies.

We didn't get any punishments or anything like that, even though we did kind of skip school. Dr. Martinez said that she would write a note to bring with us to school to "explain" our absence.

Once it became dark, the others were becoming real tired, so they went to bed. My eyelids were starting to get heavy as I was trying to concentrate on some crime drama T.V show, so I turned it off and headed to my room.

As I walked through the upstairs hallway, I snuck a peek at Lily in her room. She was still lying in her bed, undisturbed.

I continued walking down the hall to find that Fang's bedroom door was open. I looked to find that Fang wasn't inside, but his window was open. I leaned out the window to find him sitting on the roof with his feet hanging over the edge.

I climbed up to the roof and sat next to him.

"What are you doing up here?" I asked him.

"Just sitting here," said Captain Obvious, "letting everything that happened today set in."

"Today was pretty rough, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm still kinda hung up on Sephiroth saying that Asch is still alive."

"What are we going to do about that?"

"What do you mean 'what are we going to do'? We gotta go find him. He's our friend and we'll need his help."

"But where could we find him, Max. He could be anywhere, and, to tell you the truth, I think Sephiroth was lying."

"What?"

"I don't think Asch is alive. If he was, don't you think he'd come to find us by now? To find Lily?"

"How can you say that Fang? He's my best friend, he's your friend. If there's a possibility he could be alive, we should look into it."

"Look, I don't like saying it, I really don't. Asch was a good friend, and I know you two were really close. Hell, he was the only one who tried to help me when I was an Eraser. I owe him a lot. But… he's gone Max. I want him to be alive. I want him to just zip back here and say "Hey, I'm back", but it's not gonna happen."

"Fang," was all I could get out. I didn't want to believe what he was saying, but he had a good point. For all we knew, Sephiroth was just lying to us, trying to get inside our heads.

"But as long as we're talking about what Sephiroth was telling us, Asch wasn't what I was thinking about."

"What was it, then?"

"I was thinking about something he said that he could be right about. About how the world would never accept us as their saviors."

"So what?"

"So, he's right. Sephiroth has gone public with his destroy-the world-create-a-new-one plan. To stop him, we'd have to go public too. If people found out about us, they would never accept us just because we're different. And those who do would just want to throw us in a lab and take us apart to see how we work."

I was shocked. First, Fang just gave two long monologues in a row. And second, he was having doubts about whether or not we should save the world.

"Fang, you're not saying you're thinking about joining Sephiroth, are you?"

"Don't be stupid, Max. Of course not."

"Then what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we should save the world, but… will it be worth it? Will it be worth helping an entire population of people who are likely to reject us?"

I was silent as I thought about it for a minute. This was really something to think about. We know that whatever Sephiroth had in mind was wrong and evil. But saving this world would lead to a whole lot of crap about us existing and whether we should be studied or not. There would probably be a worldwide investigation as to how many hybrid mutants are among us.

But we would be their saviors. Wouldn't that make them grateful and not want to hurt us? Either way, they would have to accept us for who we were. Sure, the world wasn't perfect but it could be fixed.

"I think we should just focus on what the right thing to do is, and that's stop Sephiroth. When we do, then we can focus on the aftermath. Whatever happens, we'll be able to handle it."

"I hope you're right Max."

"Don't worry about it. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. In the meantime, in a couple of hours, we'll have five days before Sephiroth puts his plan into action, whatever that might be. We need to prepare for it."

"You got anything in mind? I'm blank for ideas."

"Well, we can't spy on him. He can sense when we're near, I guess. We gotta figure a way to find out his plan."

"Max, you know I don't want to join Sephiroth. That guy is as sick as Itex."

"I know Fang. It was a dumb thought. I'm sorry. You just had me worried with the way you were talking."

"I didn't mean to worry you Max. This is just so stressful. I don't know how we're going to beat this guy."

"We'll find a way. I'm going to go to bed."

I started to climb back down through Fang's window when he spoke up. "Hey, Max?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you say we fly up to Colorado after school and check out the remains of the Facility? Maybe we can find Asch's trail if he's still alive."

I smiled and climbed back up onto the roof. I gave him a big hug, trapping his arms so he really couldn't hug me back. He gave me a sly smile. I kissed him on his cheek and climbed back down into the window.

"Thank you, Fang. Good night."

"Good night, Max."

* * *

R&R

Please?


	12. Needle in a Haystack

Sorry again for a lack of update. Been busy with getting ready for school. But to make up for it, this is kind of a long chapter.

* * *

"Okay," said Serena as she slid her back pack onto her shoulders, "while I'm at school, you can just crash here. Make yourself at home. There's food in the fridge and the cabinets, just help yourself."

Asch was sitting in a recliner in the living room looking up at Serena. She continued, "I should be home around two o'clock and Alice will be here at about five. And Caroline, my other Mom is supposed to come home today, but it won't be until this afternoon."

"What am I supposed to do for six hours while you're at school?" asked Asch, smiling slightly.

"I'm sure you could find something around here to entertain yourself. I gotta get going. I'll see you later." Serena headed for the door.

"See ya," said Asch as she went through the door.

Asch let out a sigh. He hated doing nothing. He figured maybe he could try finding Dr. Martinez's number again. There must have been some way he could get it.

He could also get some practice in trying to gain his abilities back. Dr. Trapp said that they would probably start to come back in a day or two. But he would have to take it slow. He didn't want to collapse again.

Asch decided to try and find the number for Dr. Martinez. He went through numerous operating systems, even some in the veterinary associations, and some kind and moody operators, and being on hold for some periods of time, but couldn't get Dr. Martinez's line.

He hung up the phone and screamed through gritted teeth in frustration. How is it that no one could get this one's person's phone number?

He looked over at a clock on a mantle. It read 10:14 a.m. He had been on the phone for over two hours. He hoped Serena's parents never noticed that on the phone bill. Whoops.

He wanted to try and fly again, but then he figured he would just be wasting his time. He could try again later.

He stayed at the house for another hour. He watched television, went looking through the cabinets and closets and other places that didn't look private. He was tempted to look in Serena's room, maybe find out her little secret, but quickly put the thought away. He wasn't a rat. He knew how to be one, but he wasn't about to put it to use on Serena.

Asch couldn't take being cooped up anymore. He needed to get out. He would just be sure to get back before anyone came home.

Of course, he couldn't fly, he couldn't drive. So what else could he do? He walked. It was actually refreshing change of pace for him. At first, it seemed slow and boring, but then he found it really peaceful. It wasn't a big rush from trying to move at blinding speeds.

As he went through the town of Timber, he was able to take in all the sounds and sights and know what they were rather than them just going by him in a vat of jumbled color and discernible sound.

But on the other hand, he missed the rush of adrenaline, the energy pumping through him, the thrill of doing what nobody else could do, that flying gave him.

And he didn't want to start with his pyrokinesis.

But still, this was nice. Maybe normal wasn't as bad as Asch thought.

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I guess there was more paranoia here about Sephiroth than in some other places. School only lasted half a day. I was actually glad about that. It would give Fang and me more time to look for Asch in Colorado.

The one thing that would probably have been hard was telling Dr. Martinez. I wasn't exactly sure if she would let us go. But then again, how would she be able to stop us?

So after school, the two of us approached her and presented our case to her.

"Well… I don't know," she said. That was not a good way to begin agreeing. "I understand that you want to find your friend to see if he's still alive. But this could be dangerous as well. Those… followers might come after you."

"We can take care of ourselves," I said, "You know we can."

"I know, I'm just worried. I'm a mother. It's what I do."

"We should be back tonight, but probably not until after dinner. We'll be super careful, we promise."

Dr. Martinez let out a sigh of defeat. "I spoil you kids."

I let out a small squeal of excitement. I hugged Dr. Martinez and said "thank you" a hundred times in less than a minute. Fang was his typical self and merely said "thanks". He probably didn't want to let on that this was his idea.

We went into Fang's room and packed a couple of essentials in a back pack. Iggy and Nudge came into the room. "So you're really going to try and find Asch?" asked Nudge with some excitement.

"Well, we gotta check to see if what Sephiroth said was true," I said, "If Asch is alive, we'll need his help. Plus, I'm sure he'd like to see Lily, despite her, uhh, condition."

"But what if Sephiroth was lying?" said Iggy, "And not to mention that he said he promised to kill Asch if he saw him again."

"Guys," said Fang, "we've gotten hundreds of death threats in our life before. When has that ever stopped us? I doubt it would stop him."

"Yeah, but then, we were sure we could beat our opponents. This time, I'm not so sure."

"When did we ever let doubt stop us?" I asked. I caught Fang wincing a bit out of the corner of my eye. I wasn't trying to aim that at him, but I could tell it struck a nerve.

"I guess you're right," said Iggy.

"I really hope you find him," said Nudge, "I know how you two were really good friends. And I want to see Asch and Iggy here go at it in more cooking contests. Those were so fun to watch. I liked how competitive you got over something as simple as cooking."

"Yeah, I miss my inferior 'competition' too." Iggy let out a small chuckle after that.

A few minutes later, Fang and I were packed and ready. Gasman and Angel came up to us and wished us good luck. Angel wanted to come with us, but it would be better if just Fang and I went, in case the followers were looking for us.

We headed outside and took off flying, saying goodbye to everyone else.

The flight to Colorado took a couple of hours. We were going to start at the Facility. Or at least the place where the Facility once stood, before it was burned to the ground… by Asch.

We soon made it to the site of the remains of the Facility. But there was a problem that made us had to land a little earlier. The place was swarming with cops and rangers.

We landed in a big pine tree and watched as people in uniforms were walking around. Some were writing on pads, others looked like they were searching for something.

"What's going on here?" I asked, "What are all these people doing here?"

"I guess it was only a matter of time before somebody noticed a giant fire pit the size of a giant, complex laboratory," said Fang. I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

After a minute of watching, I said, "I wonder if they found Asch."

"If he isn't part of the soil by now?"

"Fang," I said sternly, giving him a look that matched my voice.

"Sorry," he said.

"You know he's impervious to fire. He can't burn. If he's, or was, down there, he'll be in one piece."

"You got any ideas on how we're gonna get down there and find him or find out about him?"

"Let's just stay perched up here for now. Maybe somebody down there will say something that will give us a clue."

So we waited for the right guy to spill the beans within our earshot. We heard some interesting conversations, some more honorable than others. We heard some speculation as to what could have possibly happened, but nothing solid.

We sat in the tree for about an hour before we heard the right blabbermouth.

A ranger was talking with somebody as they were walking by, "Yeah, some rfoup of hikers found this kid in the wreckage."

"Was he alive?" asked the other guy.

"Yeah, he was taken to the Timber hospital, as far as I know. Strange thing though, he was unconscious but he didn't have a scratch on him."

Fang and I looked at each other with excitement. We had a lead. We knew where Timber was. We spent some time there after we defeated Anne Walker and spent the night in the woods.

We flew out towards the town, which wasn't too far away. We landed close to Timber without anyone seeing us.

We walked towards the town. "So we need to find the hospital," said Fang, "Once we do, how are we going to find Asch? We can't just walk in and ask 'had any bird-human hybrid mutants come in as patients recently?'."

"True, but we'll have to try something."

Not much later we found the hospital. We walked in the front door and went to the desk.

A woman sitting at the desk looked up at us and asked, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah," I said, "we're looking for a patient we think is in this hospital. His name is A… uhh… Tyler Ashton."

The receptionist hit a few buttons on her computer. When she was done, she said, "Sorry, but we don't have a patient listed under that name."

"Uh-oh," I said to Fang.

"Well, he didn't come in under the name 'Asch'," said Fang.

"What other name could he come in under?"

Just then a voice called out, "Max, Maximum Ride."

Fang and I looked over to see someone who looked like a doctor. He was tall with short, brown hair and glasses. He motioned for us to come towards him. So we did so.

"Max," he said quietly as we approached him, "It's me, Dr. Gordon."

I jogged my memory for a little bit and then it came to me. He was one of the doctors who took care of me and the Counter-Breed at ShawCorp.

"Dr. Gordon, I remember you now. What are you doing here?"

"We'll talk about in my office."

So we followed him through the crowded halls of the hospital. In the course of just over a month, almost all of the people from the life that was erased from me were suddenly popping up like daisies.

We came to his office and he closed the door and locked it.

"Uhh, can I be brought into the loop?" asked Fang.

"Fang," I said, "this is Dr. Gordon. He was one of the doctors that took care of me during my time in ShawCorp."

"Oh."

"Well, actually," said Dr. Gordon, "my name is Dr. Trapp now. After the raid, I dropped out of ShawCorp and went back to medicine. But I have to say, it's really good to see you again. Boy, you've grown. It's just as refreshing as seeing Asch."

"So Asch was here?!" I cried, "You saw him."

"Yeah. I took him as my patient, but I didn't make a record of it. He was in rough shape but he's all right. He maxed out his power and almost drained himself of life energy."

"So, he is alive? We can see him again?"

"If you can find him. I don't know where he went after he checked out. But he went with a girl who found him who offered to care of him while he tries to find… well… you."

"So we just missed him," said Fang.

"I'm afraid so."

"That's okay," I said, "We'll just have to search the town for him. Not impossible to do."

"The girl that he was with, her name was Salisbury. I forget the first name, Serena or something like that."

"Well, at least we have something to go on. We can just look up Salisbury in the phonebook."

"I take it you two know about the whole Sephiroth situation."

"Yeah we know."

"Well, I don't know how much help Asch will be. He's lost all of his abilities."

"He what?!" Fang and I yelled.

"Don't worry, he should get them back soon. It was just a side affect from going overboard with his abilities."

"Let's hope so," said Fang.

"Well, I need to go back work. Good luck finding Asch and stopping Sephiroth, and be careful. If you need any help, come find me. I'll do what I can."

"Okay, thanks a lot Dr. Gor… I mean, Dr. Trapp."

"No problem."

So Fang and I quickly got out of the hospital. Finally, we had a real lead. We went to a nearby phone booth and looked in a phonebook that was in it. There was only two Salisburys in the area, so that really narrowed down the search.

The first was a bust. So we made it to the second one. It was a really big house. Whoever lived there must have been rich, or maybe they had one of those Itex limitless cards.

We knocked on the door and rang the bell, but there was no answer. Maybe Asch was already out looking for us.

"Well, nobody's home," said Fang, "now what do we do?"

"You don't think he might have already flown out of here and went to look for us, do you?"

"Your doctor friend said that he lost his abilities. I would think that would include flying. Maybe he went for a walk, or maybe to school."

"No, no, Asch isn't really the type to take walks."

"Then where could he be?"

"He must be somewhere around here. It's not a big town, maybe we'll find him walking around."

"Guess we have no choice."

So we set off back into the town to search for a needle in a haystack.

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Asch started to head back for the house. He had had his fill of the town for now. Plus, he needed to get back before Serena came home. It was almost two.

He started retracing his steps and making his way back to Serena's house. Overall, he rather enjoyed taking a walk. For some reason that he couldn't figure out, the slowness of it actually relaxed him. He couldn't think of a time when he felt this relaxed. It felt really good.

As he rounded a corner near a grocery store, he saw something that caught his attention. Through a crowd of a few people, he saw something that looked familiar. He saw a head of long, blond-streaked hair.

Could it have been Max? She was walking next to a taller guy with black hair and a black shirt. Could that have been Fang? What were they doing here?

He tried to catch up to them, but they were keeping up a fast pace. He ran up to them and said, "Wait, excuse me, hold up."

The pair turned around and looked at Asch. "Can we help you?" asked the boy. Asch looked up to them. It wasn't them. They looked similar, but not the same.

"Oh, sorry," said Asch, "I had the wrong people. Sorry about that."

The pair turned around and continued walking on their way. Asch started heading back toward the house when he bumped into a person who was behind him.

"Oh, sorry," he said. He looked at the person who he bumped into. He found that it was a very familiar face. The girl was about to his shoulder and had streaks of blonde in her hair.

"Max?" he asked.

"Asch!" Max cried. Max embraced her long lost best friend in a hug that would shatter the average human's bones.

* * *

As always, please R&R


End file.
